The present invention relates generally to the stabilization of a roller chain relative to a chain rail and, in the most preferred form, to a chain guide for securement to the roller chain for slideable abutment on the chain rail.
Roller chain is a common method of transferring power. Due to the flexible nature of roller chain and due to the large distances traversed by roller chain, it is often necessary to provide chain rails to support the roller chain. To stabilize the roller chain on the chain rail to prevent the roller chain from being pushed therefrom, it was common prior to the present invention to install elongated guide inserts having U-shaped cross sections into the chain rail. The fabricated chain rails and guide inserts were relatively expensive to manufacture and assemble.
Thus, a need has arisen for a method to stabilize roller chain on a chain guide which is more cost effective and which overcomes the problems encountered in prior roller chain stabilization methods.